One of the most popular lunches or dinners nowadays for those people who do not have a lot of money, or time like college students are instant noodles. Even though they are not the healthiest food out there, you still think they are not very bad. At least not like eating a burger or fries kind of bad anyways.

However, an experiment has been done and if you see you can notice that this is not very true. One doctor used a pill-sized camera to see what happens inside the stomach and digestive tract after you eat ramen noodles. What he found out was unbelievable.

What was discovered is that even after two hours the noodles are still intact in the stomach. This is very concerning. This is so because it might be putting a strain on your digestive system which needs to work for a long time to break down this processed food. Thus, when food will remain in the digestive tract for a longer period of time, it will impact the nutrient absorption. However, when it comes to ramen noodles, there is not much nutrition to begin with. There are a lot of additives like the toxic preservative tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) instead. This one will remain in the stomach for a long time with the noodles and we are not sure what this might do to your health, but it is not going to be good.

Five Grams of TBHQ in Noodles is Lethal

TBHQ is often listen as an antioxidant, however, it is a synthetic chemical with antioxidant properties, not a natural one. Due to this fact, it will prevent oxidation of fats and oils and extend the shelf life of processed foods.

This one is used in most foods like McDonald’s chicken nuggets, Kellogg’s CHEEZ-IT crackers, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Wheat Thins crackers, Teddy Grahams, Red Baron frozen pizza, Taco Bell beans and many more. Moreover, you can find it in varnishes, lacquers, and pesticide products, also cosmetics and perfumes to reduce the evaporation rate and improve stability.

At its 19th and 21st meetings, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives determined that TBHQ was safe for human consumption at levels of 0-0.5 mg/kg of body weight.

However, the Codex commission set the maximum allowable limits up to between 100 to as much as 400 mg/kg, depending on the food it’s added to. (Chewing gum is permitted to contain the highest levels of TBHQ.) In the US, the Food and Drug Administration requires that TBHQ must not exceed 0.02 percent of its oil and fat content.

As you can see it is debatable what safe limits are. However, it is good to have little to no exposure to this toxicant. This is due to the fact that just one gram of it can cause:

Delirium

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Sense of suffocation

Ringing in the ears

Nausea and vomiting

Even though TBHQ is not a persistent toxicant, which means that the body can eliminate it, it still might be getting prolonged exposures. This is a matter of concern.

Health Hazards Linked to TBHQ

Reproductive effects at high doses

Biochemical changes at very low doses

Liver effects at low doses

Positive mutation results from in vitro tests on mammalian cells

Eating Instant Noodles Linked to Metabolic Syndrome

You need to have in mind the following study the next time you are thinking of consuming noodles for lunch. The study concluded that women who consumed more instant noodles were at a much bigger risk of metabolic syndrome than those who did not.

Women who ate them more than twice a week were more likely to have metabolic syndrome by 68%. Some of those symptoms were central obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, elevated fasting triglycerides and low levels of HDL cholesterol.

If you have three or more of these symptoms, it will increase the risk of you getting diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, it was also discovered that eating instant noodles will not contribute to your healthy diet.

People who consumed instant noodles had a lower intake of important nutrients like protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, vitamin A, niacin, and vitamin C. Plus, they had an excessive intake of energy, unhealthy fats and sodium.

What is There in a Package of Noodles?

Apart from a lot of sodium and TBHQ, you can also find other things in instant noodles.

Prevent Disease reported:“The dried noodle block was originally created by flash frying cooked noodles, and this is still the main method used in Asian countries, though air-dried noodle blocks are favored in Western countries. The main ingredients of the dried noodle are wheat flour, palm oil, and salt. Common ingredients of the flavoring powder are salt, monosodium glutamate, seasoning, and sugar.

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

This one, or also called MSG can be found in instant noodles. It is an excitotoxin which means that it can damage the nerve cells to the point of damage or death. It can also cause brain dysfunction and trigger problems with learning, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and more.

Glutamic Acid

Free glutamic acid (MSG is 78% free glutamic acid) is the same neurotransmitter that the brain, nervous system, eyes, pancreas and other organs use to start some processes in your body. MSG is also used to make mice fat for scientific studies. It is actually the perfect drug for obesity. Therefore, if you want to have the perfect body weight, you need to avoid it.

Benzopyrene

…In June 2012, the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) found Benzopyrene (a cancer-causing substance) in six brands of noodles made by Nong Shim Company Ltd. Although the KFDA said the amounts were minuscule and not harmful, Nong Shim did identify particular batches of noodles with a problem, prompting a recall by October 2012.”

Return to Whole, Living Foods for Optimal Health

Naturally, you should be aware that a package of instant noodles from time to time is okay. However, you should not eat it instead of real food all the time because health problems will appear.
In fact, you should avoid them as much as you can. This is so because they will make you sick and fat, especially if you eat them a lot.
Processed foods will cause weight gain and chronic disease. This is due to the fact that they are high in sugar, fructose, refined carbohydrates and artificial ingredients, low nutrients and fiber. However, you need to be extra careful because these foods are addictive and they are designed for overindulging.
Furthermore, if you eat them often it will promote insulin resistance and chronic inflammation, which cause more chronic diseases. But, if you consume more vegetables, meats, eggs, fruits and other whole foods, your health will thrive.
So, our advice here would be to try and cut off processes foods from your diet. However, do it step by step. What you can do is go to the local farmer’s market and buy some produce that is in season. You can actually plan a week of meals and you can purchase everything you need beforehand. This way, you can make your meal very fast and you can use leftovers as well. Do not turn to instant noodles!